5 Easy Steps to Start Your Day Right...
...and insure a productive, exciting, and fun day.My mother always makes her bed. Every morning. I hated doing it as a kid. And then I went to college and the habit took shape and has stayed with me ever since. When our first child was born my goal each day on maternity leave was to shower and yes, make my bed. I felt that at least I could say that I accomplished something.
Have you had those days that you don’t know what happened, but nothing was checked off the list, no progress made on that looming deadline, and yet you were constantly doing something?Researcher and author, Gretchen Rubin, recommends starting your day by making your bed too. (For different reasons than my mother.) I highly recommend listening to Gretchen's Happier Podcast, for weekly ideas on building good and lasting habits. This small accomplishment of making your bed has significant impact on the rest of your day. Cross something off your list, even your mental list. It takes just a minute, and has lasting impact throughout the day. This works wonders for me, yet has no impact on my husband.What’s your one small accomplishment to start your day?Feeling in control of your time allows you to increase your productivity. Try one or several of these tips. How can you take control of your time, even on a chaotic day?
- Commute to work. What is one action, call, email you can tackle as soon as you get to work? Something that won’t be weighing on you the rest of the day. Big implies the weight, not the time commitment. Send that one email, schedule the meeting, make that call you’ve been avoiding, etc. These are the elephant tasks. As opposed to the rabbit tasks. The rabbit tasks tend to be the ones in our comfort zone. They don’t necessarily make us feel that we accomplished something significant after the initial check off the list. (Continue reading to see what you can do on your commute home)
- Resist emails. At least as your first task of the day. If there are a few other things you can do and cross of the list first, you will feel more energy and stamina for your day. Then read your emails. You don’t have to respond to them right away. (We all have heard of the 24 hour rule… I try for 12 hours to clients, longer for others.) You may think I’m crazy, but just try it for a few days. I think you will see that resisting it for even just 20 minutes will make a big difference for you.
- Block time on your calendar. This time is to make headway on big projects. Proactive time, where you are not reacting and responding to others’ needs. Spend a few days paying attention to when you’re at your best. Block that time. It may start with 30 minutes at 8am and will build from there. Hint: it probably isn’t 3pm. You will get to the point that this becomes a habit that naturally occurs throughout the day, and you may not need to block time on your calendar.
- Set an alarm for 4:30pm. Stop whatever you’re doing and take stock of what is remaining on your list. What 2 – 3 things have to get done before you leave for the day? What will keep you up if you don’t address?
- Commute home. Spend 1 – 2 minutes making a mental list of what you accomplished and successes of the day. Where did you make headway – project, building your book of business, case, writing, etc.?
Some days you won’t accomplish as much as others. Or anything. Don’t evaluate just 1 day at a time, but rather over the course of the week. Cut yourself a bit of slack when needed.Lesson Learned: If something is not working, make a change. Don’t keep banging your head against the wall that you can’t get anything done. What is the one task you want to accomplish every morning? (If it’s not making your bed!)
